In 2025, fire departments serving Cherokee responded to 28 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $15K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
138 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $127K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 7 | — | |
| 2022* | 7 | — | |
| 2023 | 50 | — | |
| 2024 | 46 | -8.0% | |
| 2025 | 28 | -39.1% |
* Well below Cherokee's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 4 building fires Cherokee departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 50 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 24.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 14.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 4 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Other | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Corridor, mall | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 12 | 24.0% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Cherokee mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 16 | 32.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 14.0% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 12.0% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 4 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 4 | 8.0% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 6.0% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Match | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 4.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cherokee departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cherokee sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 14,824 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,003 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,344 | 20.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,163 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,014 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 900 | 32.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 706 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 702 | 14.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 608 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 520 | 21.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 516 | 48.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 460 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 453 | 20.0 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 35616 | 138 |
Six Alabama cities with population within ±25% of Cherokee. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Cherokee.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.